One Short Day
by GhastlyRevenant
Summary: The group of 2-9er's decide to spend a Saturday at the local Amusement Park. Fluff. YoshikixAyumi


Yoshiki was a loner by nature. Through all his years in school, he ate lunch by himself, he never worked in a group project, he never considered joining a club, and he never talked to the other students. It was a way of life that kept him from having to deal with other people and the troubles they dragged along with them. He was content to be a delinquent.

That is, until the twin-tailed class representative came blowing into his life like a tornado. The meeting was so brief, but that spark of hope she ignited in him changed everything. Suddenly, he found himself longing for companionship. Specifically, he really wanted to get to know Shinozaki Ayumi, because something drew him to her. The fact that she had cared enough to make a speech… to cry on his behalf… it wasn't something anyone else had showed him. So, the rest of his freshman year, he tried to pick up his grades and attend classes. He still couldn't connect to his classmates, though. His reputation created a barrier around him that no one wanted to cross.

Then, as a second year, he was put in her class. Though, there was the problem that he couldn't bring himself to ever start a conversation with her, because it seemed that his previous neglect of pursuing relationships has led him to being unable to proceed. Luckily, Mochida Satoshi and he began talking and in a whirlwind of events, Yoshiki found himself welcomed into a group of friends.

Yoshiki was grateful for being dragged into the group. Suddenly having friends didn't seem so wholly unnatural and awkward. He would just talk to these people and actually enjoy it. It was such an odd phenomenon that he never wanted to end.

Being dragged into the group of friends led him to the one person he wanted to forge a bond with most. Ayumi. Although, he quickly found that the girl he had seemed to develop a crush on was… well, she was weird. He had heard stories about the horror class rep, but Yoshiki knew not to trust the idiotic ramblings of most his classmates. Still, they seemed to have been more on the side of truth when it came to her. She'd mention the weirdest facts about the occult at the most random of times. She'd drag out those candles and scare the living shit out of weak-hearted Satoshi. She'd get mad at him for seemingly nothing. He could hardly begin to figure her out, but the mystery just furthered his attraction.

So, Yoshiki had settled into the way of having friends as quickly as he could. Of course, the group would still throw curve balls at him, forcing him out of his comfort zone.

"An amusement park?" Yoshiki asked, holding a colorful piece of cardboard in his hand with a skeptical look.

"Yes… there's rides and overpriced crappy food. We're going Saturday," Satoshi explained with a casual shrug. "Can you come?"

Yoshiki paused, staring down at the ticket with an uneasy heartbeat. It was a little silly, but he had never been out with friends on a weekend before. The entire thing was new, but he found himself already looking forward to it. "Yeah, sure," he shrugged.

* * *

Yoshiki would never admit to anyone how excited he had been for Saturday to roll around. He had been to a park a few times when he was younger with his family, but family outings never ended well. He hoped just being out with friends would be a lot more enjoyable and would end with less of a 'bang.'

"Where should we start?" Mayu asked excitably, hopping up and down in little bursts. Her arms were wrapped tightly around one of Sakutaro's arms, forcing him to bob slightly with the movement.

"Uh… teacups?" Satoshi suggested as something no one could determine as a joke or a serious suggestion.

"We gotta start big, though!" Seiko yelled, throwing her arms up in the air.

"Geeze, why don't we just go in a clockwise rotation around the park?" Ayumi interjected, always willing to throw some organization in the mix.

Everyone eventually decided just going around the park in a clockwise rotation was probably best, since the park wasn't crowded or huge, so they could hit every ride anyone wanted to go on. With each ride, the group would stop outside and figure out who was even interested in going on. Yoshiki, always trying to keep a cool composure, skipped out on any teacups or carousels. He was fine going on any roller coaster or thrill ride put in front of him, even if his stomach did turns that made him worry he might puke. Once in front of the log flume, the group stopped to figure out who was going on.

"I wanna go! You'll come, right Shige-nii?" Mayu asked with big eyes. Everyone, including the two parties involved knew that Sakutaro was doomed to ride any ride she requested of him.

"Sure," he agreed with a small smile. The agreement resulted in her happily squeaking, which relaxed the obviously anxious boy's expression.

"We're going!" Seiko announced, giving two big thumbs up.

"You're speaking for me now?" Naomi questioned with a raised eyebrow and good-natured smile.

"Are you not going on?" Seiko asked with a dramatically concerned expression.

"Well… no, I'm going…" Naomi said, realizing the entire complaint was probably unnecessary. She turned to look at Satoshi with an antagonistic smile. "You're not going to chicken out, right Satoshi?"

"Uh-well," Satoshi began, rubbing the back of his head. "I guess I'm going," he sighed. He had been bullied onto every ride so far, whether he wanted to go on or not.

"I think I'll pass," Ayumi suddenly piped up. Yoshiki looked over at her curiously, noticing her paled complexion. His eyes traveled up to the spot where the log peaked and then dropped. It was definitely high, so he could understand anxiety. It was just a bit weird that it was Ayumi who seemed scared.

"Whaaaat? You've passed on all the fun thrill rides," Seiko noted with eyes traveling up and down Ayumi. "Is the class rep not as fearless as we've believed?"

"What? No… I uh, just feel off today," Ayumi tried to explain with a shrug.

"Girl problems?" Seiko asked with a furrowed brow and curled frown.

"N-no!" Ayumi yelped in a high pitch.

"It's okay to be scared class rep, we won't hold it against you," Naomi said with a small, sympathetic smile.

"I'm not scared," Ayumi said stiffly, obviously finding a big issue with this accusation. "Fine, I'll go."

"Yay! So we're all going?" Mayu asked. Everyone confirmed with small nods, and Mayu proceeded to tug Sakutaro into the line.

Yoshiki found his attention fully drawn to Ayumi, which in of itself is not unusual. He had become a master of sneaking glimpses at the girl. What was unusual was how jumpy she seemed. He wished he could actually comfort her in the situation, but she'd probably just get mad that he's assuming she's scared. Though, the way she carried herself was a big alert that something was off. Her hands played nervously with the hem of her shirt, her eyes darted around, and she just seemed pale. It was actually kind of cute to see the normally composed class rep lose that sharp edge.

Though, she loses that edge around Satoshi. Not that his thick-headed best friend would notice that, which was for the best. Yoshiki wasn't sure if he could handle Ayumi's crush being reciprocated by Satoshi. He wouldn't toss aside the friendships, of course, but he would definitely have a lot of issues dealing with it.

The line was about twenty minutes, and Yoshiki quickly noticed that Ayumi was trying to get in the same row as Satoshi. Though, the way things counted out, it wouldn't work out that way. Her disappointment ended up being his enjoyment as the two were put together by themselves in the front of the boat. As the boat slowly began to move, after everyone was firmly secured, his eyes drifted back over to Ayumi. Her hands were clenched so tightly in her lap, he was worried she was cutting off circulation.

"You holding up okay?" he finally asked her, since everyone else was talking behind them and sitting in silence was awkward. Plus, he'd use any excuse he could to get to talk to her. Hah, she really did have the ability to strip him of any 'coolness.'

"Fine…" Ayumi answered, eyes focused straight ahead.

"Not a fan of heights or drops?" Yoshiki asked in a quiet, relaxed voice. Log flumes were pretty boring until you got to the final drop, so they were just being slowly pulled higher in the air.

Ayumi was silent, looking aside before her eyes finally rested on Yoshiki. "Neither, really," she confessed with a blush.

"It'll be over in a second," he assured her with a small shrug. Meanwhile, his heart was racing in his chest and it had nothing to do with the ride.

"That isn't soon enough," Ayumi pouted lightly. Her entire body was tensed.

Yoshiki just chuckled lightly. His hand settled between them, in the vein hope that maybe she'd grab onto it in a moment of fear. The log dipped down a small incline, and she took a sharp breath.

The ride continued in silence, between them at least. Seiko was screaming perverted things at the top of her lung, curious to see if the people belong could hear. Naomi was yelling at Seiko to shut up.

Yoshiki watched Ayumi from the corner of his eyes as they approached the peak of the ride. He could see her chest rising and falling in big, nervous breaths. Suddenly he remembered that she was prone to panic attacks. Seiko shouldn't have taunted her onto the ride. "Are you really going to be okay?" he suddenly asked her urgently.

"Wha? Yeah, I'm fine," Ayumi said with a confused glare for his sudden urgency.

Unfortunately the conversation was cut as the log was propelled down the large hill at stomach-in-your-throat pace. Though, the actually descent hardly captured Yoshiki's attention as Ayumi's head moved against his chest and her hand clutched his. It was only a moment, a couple seconds, then they hit the bottom, and she quickly tugged away.

Yoshiki was absolutely stunned, his heart racing in his chest.

* * *

They all shuffled into the gift shop, the exiting place for the ride. Yoshiki had managed to regain his composure externally, though his heart refused to find its normal rhythm. No one seemed to notice the moment of… eh, 'intimacy' probably wasn't the best word. Closeness? Yeah, no one noticed the moment of closeness. Ayumi refused to acknowledge it herself, which did little to his high spirits. After all, she kept blushing.

"Who's ready for lunch?" Naomi asked suddenly. The group burst into debates on where to go to eat lunch, everyone seemingly deciding they were hungry.

Yoshiki hung back from the group, letting Satoshi know he'd catch up in a moment. With the group moving to the closest burger and fries place to get lunch, Yoshiki found himself wandering back into the gift store. He approached the area where people got to look at pictures of the descent. His eyes moved along the screens as he noticed the one of their group. Mayu was holding onto Sakutaro, no surprise there. Seiko's arms were thrown in the air, one of her hands forcing one of Naomi's up as well. Satoshi was sunk back in his seat with bulging eyes. Upfront… Ayumi was hiding against him. It made his limbs tingle. Gah, how did she have this affect on him?

Yoshiki had never even had a real crush before, yet now that he has finally fallen, he's fallen hard. He sighed in defeat, accepting his situation and indulgence of it.

"Hey," he said, getting the attention of one of the workers. He pulled out his wallet and pulled out some yen, holding it out to the worker. "Can I get a wallet size of 17?" Of course it was no problem to take his money and overcharge him for a small photo. Though, the contents of it made it worth every yen. It took a moment to print, and then it was his. He sort of wished he could buy a larger one, but he didn't feel like carrying around a big one that the others would notice. He took the photo and put it into his wallet with a small smile.

* * *

The rest of the day went by uneventfully, if it is excluded that Sakutaro ended up puking. Mayu had felt so horrible, but admittedly the group couldn't stop laughing because after being dragged on log flumes, roller coasters, and swing rides, a go on the teacups undid him.

As the park closed for the night, everyone began to make their own individual ways home. Yoshiki was about to split up from the group and head in the direction of downtown when he heard Ayumi.

"Uh, Kishinuma?"

His head snapped, his neck protesting to the sharp movement. He cringed slightly, though she probably didn't even notice. "Yeah?" he asked, keeping a calm expression.

"Sorry about earlier," she mumbled, eyes focused on the sidewalk under her.

"Huh?" he asked unintelligibly. Did she mean the moment of the log flumes? His heart seriously wasn't going to catch a break today, was it?

"Uh, with the log flume," she explained with a small glare, annoyed that she had to clarify.

"There's no need to apologize," Yoshiki said with a weak shrug. He wished he could just tell her he liked it, and that she was free to take his hand or rest her head against him anytime. He wouldn't dare say that aloud, though.

"Yeah… well," she mumbled, foot scuffing against the ground. Yoshiki was used to seeing her blush, but a blush in direction to him was something completely new. "Okay, then. I guess I'll see you Monday."

"Yeah, see you," Yoshiki said with a small nod.

"We have a math exam, so don't forget to study," she suddenly said, taking on her class-rep voice. She seemed to be trying to regain her normal intimidation, which just made him want to pat her on the head. In fear of losing his hand, he wouldn't try it, though.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll study really hard," he said, unable to keep a bit of sarcasm dripping from his tone. He'd glance over his notes… maybe. If he took notes of the actual chapters they were being tested on.

"Make sure you do," she snapped before turning heel and leaving in a different direction than he had to go.

Even with the hostility at the end, Yoshiki couldn't wipe a smile off his face. He pulled his wallet out, tugging out the photo from a hidden slit. It gave his heart such a thrill to look at, which may be pathetic but at this point he didn't care. He knew what he felt, even if the object of his affections had it badly for his best friend. He safely tucked the picture back away and put it in his back pocket. He glanced back at the slowly darkening amusement park with a small smirk.

They'd have to come back sometime.


End file.
